JPH1195315A - Remote control universal head device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the sun from being photographed by a remote control universal head by obtaining the position of the sun at a point where the remote control universal head is installed based on the latitude and the longitude of the point where the remote control universal head is installed, date and time. SOLUTION: In the case of installing the remote control universal head 10 outdoors, the latitude and the longitude of the installation place of the universal head 10 are measured, and the positional information is inputted in a longitude and latitude storage means 40 and bearing information on the pan center (reference) direction of the universal head 10 at the time of installation is inputted in a pan center storage means 42. Then, the universal head 10 and an operation unit 30 are connected to perform communication and the position of the sun is calculated by an arithmetic means 52 based on the positional information, information on the pan center direction and information on the date and the time from a clock unit 50 in the unit 30. The obtained information about the position of the sun is displayed on a display means 54.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control pan head device, and more particularly to a technique for preventing the sun from being photographed by a remote control pan head intended to be installed outdoors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A remote control head mounts a television camera or the like, and performs pan / tilt operation, focus, zoom adjustment and the like of the camera by remote control operation. In particular, cameras for monitoring and weather observation are installed outdoors, such as at high altitudes and in remote locations, and are remotely operated by operating devices connected via communication lines. in this case,
There is also known an operation device provided with means for displaying the direction (panning position) and inclination (tilt angle) of the camera platform.

[0003]

However, in this type of remote control pan head device, since the operation is performed from a place (remote place) far from the installation place of the pan head, a local head where the pan head is installed is used. There is a problem that the position of the sun cannot be accurately grasped. If you mistakenly shoot the sun with a TV camera using an image pickup tube,
There is a risk that the camera may be damaged, and even in a television camera using a CCD imaging device, there is a problem that the image becomes completely white, and for a while thereafter, the image becomes difficult to see due to the effect of an afterimage. Conventionally, avoiding such direct imaging of the sun has depended on the intuition and experience of the operator.

Further, a remote control head mounted outdoors has a housing for accommodating the camera in order to protect the camera from the weather and the like. When the camera is turned in the direction of the sun, the camera passes through a shooting window. There is also a problem that sunlight directly enters the housing, and the temperature inside the housing increases, which adversely affects the camera. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a remote control head device capable of avoiding direct shooting of the sun.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a camera mounted thereon, and a driving means for panning and / or tilting the camera, and the camera is operated by remotely controlling the driving means. A remote control head device for pointing a desired direction, storage means for storing position information of a point where the remote control head is installed, clock means for obtaining a date and time, information stored in the storage means, and The present invention is characterized by comprising a calculating means for obtaining the position of the sun based on the date and time information obtained from the clock means, and a display means for displaying information on the position of the sun obtained by the calculating means.

According to the present invention, the position of the sun at the point where the remote control head is installed is obtained from the position information (latitude and longitude information) of the point where the remote control head is installed, and the date and time information. (Direction and height) by calculation. By displaying the information on the position of the sun thus obtained on the display means, a photographer operating at a remote place can be made aware of the position of the sun, and it is possible to prevent sun photography.

Further, in order to embody the present invention, a second storage means for storing information indicating a direction of a center direction which is a reference of a panning operation of the remote control head, a direction of the remote control head, And pan / tilt detection means for obtaining a tilt, wherein the display means is provided with a camera based on information stored in the second storage means and / or information obtained from the pan / tilt detection means. It is characterized by comprising a display device for graphically displaying the relationship between the photographing direction and the position of the sun obtained by the arithmetic means.

According to the present invention, the position of the sun is displayed in relation to the photographing direction of the camera as well as merely showing information on the position of the sun. This makes it possible to visually grasp the position of the sun at a glance,
It is possible to make the photographer easily understand whether or not there is a danger of taking the sun. By the way, the arithmetic means can calculate not only the position of the sun at the present time (date and time) at which the remote control head is to be operated but also the position of the future sun based on the date and time indicated by the clock means. Therefore, it is also possible to predict a change (orbit) in the position of the sun over time.

Therefore, as a display mode of the display device,
When the camera is maintained (fixed) in a state where the camera is oriented in a certain photographing direction, it is conceivable to graphically display a change in the sun position with respect to the photographing direction of the camera. According to this aspect, it is possible to predict beforehand the danger of taking a solar image due to the lapse of time when the remote control head is in the stopped state.

As another display form, in the remote control head device, there is provided an automatic operation means for automatically operating the remote control head, and a prediction means for predicting a movement path of the camera by the automatic operation means. It is conceivable to graphically display the relationship between the movement route predicted by the above and the current position of the sun obtained by the calculation means. According to this aspect, it is possible to predict the danger of the sun photographing by the automatic operation of the remote control pan head such as the shot photographing and the trace photographing, and to avoid this.

The display means is provided on the side of an operating device for remotely operating the remote control head. In addition to the display means, when the sun is photographed by a camera,
By providing a warning means for warning the photographer of that effect, the photographer can be further alerted.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a remote control pan head device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a remote control head to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG.
The camera includes a housing 12 for accommodating a camera (not shown) and a camera platform body 14 for panning and tilting the camera. The housing 12 has a transparent protective glass (front glass) 16 on the front surface facing the photographing lens of the camera. Through the front glass 16, an image from inside the housing 12 to outside the housing 12 is taken by the camera. Reference numeral 18 denotes a wiper for removing water droplets, dust, and the like attached to the protective glass.

The housing 12 is cantilevered by a tilt shaft extending from the camera platform body 14. The tilt shaft is rotated and driven by a tilt motor (corresponding to a driving unit) built in the camera platform body 14, and tilts the camera housed in the housing 12. The head body 14
Is supported by a pan shaft 20 fixed on a mounting table (not shown), and the pan shaft 20 is rotationally driven by a pan motor (corresponding to driving means) built in the camera platform body 14,
Pan the camera. The tilting and panning of the camera are remotely controlled by an operation unit (operation device) 30 described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the remote control pan head device. The remote control head device includes a remote control head 10 installed outdoors and an operation unit 30 for operating the remote control head.
(Phone line) 32. Remote control head 10
Is a central processing unit (pan head control CPU) 34 for controlling a pan / tilt operation or the like in accordance with an operation from the operation unit 30.
The pan head control CPU 34 is connected to a tilt drive unit 36 including the above-described tilt motor and a pan drive unit 38 including the pan motor. Each of the tilt drive unit 36 and the pan drive unit 38 has a detection unit (corresponding to a pan / tilt detection unit) for detecting a tilt angle and a pan position of the camera platform.
Is notified.

The head control CPU 34 includes a latitude and longitude storage unit 40 for storing the latitude and longitude of the place where the remote control head 10 is installed, and a center direction (a front direction of the pan) of the pan operation of the head. Is connected to the pan center storage means (corresponding to the second storage means), and the pan head control CPU 34 can read out the information stored in each of the storage means 40 and 42 at any time. I have.

The operation unit 30 has a central processing unit (operation unit CPU) 44.
An operation unit 44 such as a joystick 46 for instructing the pan / tilt operation of the remote control head 10, a focus control knob 47, and a zoom seesaw control lever 48 is connected to 44. Therefore, the operator (operator) checks the image captured by the camera on a monitor (not shown) while checking the joystick 46 on the operation panel.
By operating the focus control knob 47, the zoom seesaw control lever 48, and the like, a desired subject can be photographed.

Further, the operation unit 30 has a date (month and day)
And a clock unit (corresponding to clock means) 5 for grasping the time
0, a calculation means 52 for calculating the position of the sun, and a display means 54, which are totally controlled by the operation unit CPU 44. The calculating means 52 obtains the current position of the sun, the running trajectory and the like based on the position information stored in the history storage means 40 and the information from the clock unit 50 according to a program (software) for calculating the operation of the celestial body.

The display means 54 is for notifying the operator of the position of the sun obtained by the arithmetic means 52, and various modes are specifically conceivable. For example, a display unit for numerically displaying the sun position is provided on the operation panel of the operation unit 30, and the position of the sun obtained by the arithmetic unit 52 is displayed on the display unit as “H60 °, A45 °”. Is done.
Such a display “H60 °, A45 °” indicates a direction of 60 degrees with respect to the center direction of the pan and 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal.
It indicates that the sun is located at the inclination of degree.

A display as shown in FIG. 3 may be performed instead of or together with the numerical display. That is, a first display section 56 for displaying the pan position of the remote control head 10 and a second display section 58 for displaying the tilt angle are provided on the operation panel of the operation unit 30, and the first display section 56 is provided. Are arranged in a ring shape with two-color light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 60,..., And the second display unit 58 is constituted by two-color light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 60,.

In the display means having such a configuration,
The position S indicating the direction and height of the sun obtained by the calculation means 52 is displayed in red, and the current position P (pan position) and T (tilt angle) indicating the current camera direction and tilt are displayed in green. For example, the operator can easily recognize the position of the sun and the direction of the television camera (shooting direction). By displaying the relationship between the position of the sun and the direction of the television camera by changing the emission color of the LED 60, the operator is alerted. Thus, the operator can perform an operation so that the two do not overlap, and can avoid photographing the sun.

Further, in addition to the display means 54,
A warning lamp, buzzer, etc. is provided to notify the operator of the reflection of the sun. It is desirable to do so. next,
The operation of the remote control head device configured as described above will be described.

First, when the remote control head 10 is installed outdoors, the latitude, longitude, altitude, etc. of the installation location are measured, and the positional information is input to the history storage means 40 of the remote control head 10. Note that such position information is obtained by a known GPS (Gl
obal Positioning System) It can be easily obtained by using the technology. Further, the direction of the pan of the remote control head 10 at the time of installation in the center (reference) direction is confirmed, and information on the direction of the center is input to the pan center storage means 42.

However, if the location information of the installation location and the information of the direction of the center direction are known in advance before the installation of the remote control head 10, the information is stored in advance in each storage means 4.
It is also possible to store them in 0 and 42. Subsequently, a communication connection between the remote control head 10 and the operation unit 30 is performed.
Side is notified of the position information and the information of the pan center direction. The operation unit 30 stores these various information in a memory.

The operation unit 30 receives the position information, the pan center direction information, and the clock unit 50.
The calculation means 52 calculates the position of the sun and the running trajectory based on the information on the date, time, and the time from. The position of the sun and the operating trajectory thus determined are displayed on the display means 54. Thus, the operator can operate the camera while avoiding the position of the sun.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, with respect to the relationship between the photographing direction of the camera and the position of the sun 62, the reflection of the sun occurs in the range in which the sun 64 is captured in the field of view 62 of the camera. A danger zone A is set, and a warning zone B is set around the danger zone A to indicate that the danger zone is in the vicinity of the sun 64. When the camera's field of view overlaps the danger zone B, a first warning (or display) is performed. Warning (or display) if your field of view overlaps danger zone A
May be performed.

FIG. 6 shows an example in which a display device such as a graphic display is used as the display means 54. On the display screen of the display device, as shown in the figure, a movable range 66 of the camera (the entire photographable range) is displayed two-dimensionally, the horizontal axis represents the panning direction of the camera, and the vertical axis represents the tilting of the camera. It is associated with the angle. The frame indicating the entire photographable range 66 of the camera is displayed in blue, and the area (current photographing position) 68 currently captured by the camera is displayed as a white circle. The position of the sun calculated by the calculating means 52 is displayed in different colors as a danger zone A and a warning zone B. The danger zone A is displayed in red, and the warning zone B is displayed in yellow.

According to such a display mode, since the position of the sun and the current direction of the camera can be checked at a glance, the sun can be prevented from being projected in the pan / tilt operation. Also, if the camera is in warning zone B
When the user faces the danger zone A, the photographer can be strongly alerted by changing the blue display portion indicating the entire photographable range 66 to another color such as yellow or red. The display color is not limited to the above example.

FIG. 7 shows another display example on the display device. It is also possible to predict whether or not there is a possibility that the fixed camera will capture the sun 64 when the orientation of the camera (head) is kept constant for a long time and the sun 64 moves over time. It is possible. For example,
As shown in FIG. 7, the elapsed time from the current time is displayed on the horizontal axis, and the movable range in the vertical direction of the camera is displayed on the vertical axis. The change in the position of the sun (operating orbit) until after the hour) is displayed.

In the example shown in the figure, when the camera is fixed at the current shooting position, the field of view of the camera enters the alert zone B 14 hours after the current time, and the sun is reflected 16 hours later. You can see that. This makes it possible to grasp in advance how long the current shooting position can be continuously shot. In addition, depending on the photographing direction, there may be a direction in which the sun is not photographed. Therefore, it is conceivable to point the camera in such a direction in advance.

FIG. 8 shows another display example of the display device. In a remote control pan head device having a known automatic photographing function such as shot photographing or trace photographing, it is also possible to grasp the relationship between the movement path of the camera and the position of the sun. Shot shooting refers to a specific composition (pan position,
The tilt position, zoom, and focus) are stored in advance in association with the shot buttons, and the camera is automatically moved to the stored position in response to the operation of the shot buttons. Trace shooting means that the continuous movement of the camera from the position where shooting is started to the position where shooting is ended is stored in advance in association with the trace button, and is stored according to the operation of the trace button. The movement is automatically reproduced.

Before or during such automatic photographing, the movement path 72 of the camera from the current photographing position 68 to the movement destination position 70 is obtained, and the position of the sun and the movement path of the camera are determined. The relationship with 72 may be displayed as shown in FIG. 8 to call attention to the photographer. Further, the various display modes described above may be configured to be appropriately selectable by the selection unit. For example, the display device connected to the operation unit 30 is configured to be capable of selectively displaying two types of display modes, the display mode described in FIG. 6 and the display mode described in FIG. A selection switch for selecting a display mode is provided on the operation panel.

The operation flow of the remote control head device having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG. When the operation process of the remote control head 10 is started (step S101), the operation unit 30 firstly stores the information (latitude, longitude, pan center direction) stored in the history storage unit 40 and the pan center storage unit 42. Data) is obtained from the remote control platform 10 via the communication means 32 (step S102).

Further, information on the current date and time is obtained from the clock unit 50 (step S104). Next, the movement (orbit) of the sun based on the setting of the selection switch
It is determined whether or not it is necessary to predict (Step S1)
06). When the display mode described with reference to FIG. 6 is selected by the selection switch, it is not necessary to predict the movement of the sun, so the latitude acquired in steps S102 and S104,
The current position (direction and height) of the sun is calculated by the calculating means 52 based on the longitude, the date, and the time (step S).
108).

On the other hand, if the display mode described with reference to FIG. 7 is selected by the selection switch in step S106, the current position is determined based on the latitude, longitude, month, day, and time acquired in steps S102 and S104. 24 from the time
Obtain the trajectory of the sun's movement until time (step S
110). Thereafter, the center of the display screen (display graph) is determined based on the information on the pan center direction, a graph display suitable for the display mode is performed (step S112), and the position of the sun (see FIG. 6 and FIG. 7). Or the trajectory) and the direction of the camera are displayed on a graph (step S11).
4).

Thus, the operator can easily grasp the position of the sun and the direction (photographing direction) of the television camera, and can perform photographing with care so that the two do not overlap. Thereby, direct shooting of the sun can be prevented. Since the range in which the reflection of the sun occurs varies depending on the angle of view of the TV lens, the display may be changed according to the zoom position, or the operation may be performed based on the information on the position of the sun obtained by the calculation means. A warning to the zoom operation may be given to the user.

[0036]

As described above, according to the remote control head device according to the present invention, the remote control head is installed from the position information of the point where the remote control head is installed and the date and time information. Calculates the position (direction and height) of the sun at a point and displays information about the position of the sun on the display means, so that a photographer in a remote location can grasp the position of the sun when operating. In addition, the sun photography can be prevented beforehand.

In particular, by employing a display device that clearly displays the relationship between the position of the sun obtained by the calculation means and the shooting direction of the camera, the position of the sun can be visually grasped at a glance. It is possible to make the photographer easily understand whether or not there is a danger of taking the sun.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a remote control head to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a remote control pan head device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration example of a display unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the field of view of a television camera and the position of the sun;

5A and 5B are conceptual diagrams for explaining the relationship between the shooting direction of a television camera and the position of the sun, where FIG. 5A is a side view of a remote control head, and FIG.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a display mode of a display device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another display mode of the display device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another display mode of the display device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of the operation of the remote control head device;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 remote control head 14 head body 30 operating unit (operating device) 32 communication means 40 history storage means 42 pan center storage means (second storage means) 50 clock unit (clock means) 52 Calculation means 54 Display means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A camera having a pan and / or pan
Or, a remote control head device which includes a driving means for performing a tilt operation and directs the camera in a desired direction by remotely operating the driving means, comprising: storage means for storing position information of a point where the remote control head is installed; Clock means for obtaining the position of the sun based on the information stored in the storage means and the date and time information obtained from the clock means; and the position of the sun obtained by the calculation means. Display means for displaying information about the remote control head. 2. A second memory for storing information indicating a direction in a center direction which is a reference of a panning operation of the remote control head.
Storage means and a pan / tilt for obtaining the direction and inclination of the remote control head.
A tilt detection unit, wherein the display unit stores information stored in the second storage unit,
And / or a display device for graphically displaying a relationship between a shooting direction of a camera and a position of the sun obtained by the arithmetic unit based on information obtained from the pan / tilt detection unit. The remote control head device according to claim 1. 3. A change in the position of the sun with the passage of time in the future is predicted by the calculating means, and the display device includes:
3. The remote controller according to claim 2, wherein when the camera is maintained in a state where the camera is oriented in a certain shooting direction, a temporal change in the relationship between the shooting direction of the camera and the sun position is graphically displayed. Head device. 4. An automatic operation means for automatically operating a remote control head, and a prediction means for estimating a movement path of a camera by the automatic operation means, wherein the display device has a movement path predicted by the prediction means. And a relation between the current position of the sun obtained by the calculating means and the current position of the sun is graphically displayed.
Remote control head device. 5. The remote control head device according to claim 1, wherein the operating device for operating the remote control head is provided with the display means and a warning means for warning the reflection of the sun.